Big Premier League Signings II

First topic message reminder :

Here is a list of all the "big movers" to the PL this season. The table contains the player's name, club moved from and to and fee for so we can scrutinise them Only players who have moved from outside the PL will be included.



[[/tr]

Player	From	To	Fee
Santi Cazorla	Malaga (Spain)	Arsenal	£20.24m
Olivier Giroud	Montpellier (France)	Arsenal	£13.2m
Eden Hazard	Lille (France)	Chelsea	£35.2m
Shinji Kagawa	Borussia Dortmund (Germany)	Man Utd	£13.2m
Marko Marin	Werder Bremen (Germany)	Chelsea	£8.6m
Oscar	Internacional (Brazil)	Chelsea	£26.4m
Lukas Podolski	Cologne (Germany)	Arsenal	£11.4m
Jan Vertonghen	Ajax (Netherlands)	Tottenham	£7.5m
Aswad Thomas	Braintree Town (England)	Grimsby Town	Undisclosed

Any updates would be appreciated.

Other transfers that may/may not be interesting:

Alou Diarra - West Ham
Fabio Borini - Liverpool
Gylfi Sigurdsson - Spurs
Jay Rodriguez - Southampton
Markus Rosenberg - West Brom
Michu - Swansea
Nathaniel Clyne - Southampton
Nick Powell - Manchester United
Robert Snodgrass - Norwich
Romain Amalfitano - Newcastle
Ron Vlaar - Aston Villa
Steven Naismith - Everton

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/premier-league/transferuebersicht/wettbewerb_GB1.html

I'm just bitter because my club has no money to spend

Maybe it's not so much about improvement but more about having strength in depth. When they were beaten at Old Trafford (out of respect to Arsenal fans I won't say anything) they were essentially playing the reserves because they were decimated by injuries. 1 DM, 1 CB and 1 winger will make them a very hard squad to beat.

This year they'll have Wilshere back though at least from October onwards.

Central midfielders:

Song
Wilshere
Ramsey
Arteta
Frimpong
Diaby
Coquelin
Rosicky

then Carzorla and Sahin, that's a lot of people to fit into their side. As well as their two new strikers, Podolski and Giroud and possibly Van Persie if they can do the impossible and keep him.

A lot of midfielders yes, depends on what formation Wenger plays though. Song could be on his way out, and Frimpong, Diaby and Coquelin aren't really "there" yet (Diaby is just poor). Any ideas whether he'll stick with 4-3-3 or change it?

Arsenal have little debt to speak of and a 60,000 seater stadium. Selling quite a few players too.

I can see us changing the formation and players quite fluidly depending on the opposition. Which we finally have the depth to do, as previously we haven't had the options.

We can now realistically rest RVP and still have an attack of Podolski, Giroud, Walcott/Carzola and still have Gervinho, Chamberlain and Sahin on the bench to change things up.

It's going to be interesting fitting them all in, but then I've heard a rumour Rosicky is out for 2 months, it'll take until November (at least) for Wilshere to be up to speed and we'll be missing Song and Gervinho for a month or more in Jan due to the African Cup (a period we've stuggled with strength in depth).

But I agree while we needed options in attack, we desperately need full backs, as Sagna has a broken leg leaving Jenkinson as our only senior RB, and Gibbs is injury prone on the left, leaving only Santos. Last year we suffered hugely in defence with having to play midfielders as full backs and having a patchwork defence. It's why I was hoping we'd sign Vernatoghen but couldn't guarentee him 1st team football, I'd take Richards but doubt we could match his wages.

I also hope we sign M'Vila as well. (though adds to our midfield competition)

If Sahin comes M'Vila won't

They also have one of the lowest spend/turnover ratio's I believe which means Arsenal could go on a much bigger spending spree and still be in line with the regs (I assume)

I would have thought Song is one of the players they'll be desperate to keep a hold of, he's improved massively over the past two years and arguably was Arsenal's best midfielder last year. He plays the role that Toure plays for Manchester City, it's very important and it'd be a mistake to get rid.

Apparently Wenger rates Diaby really highly (I don't know why either) and thinks he's the natural replacement for Patrick Vieira, so it seems unlikely that he'll be out of the door.

The signings of Giroud and Podolski suggest that he is going to stick with 4-3-3.

Podolski-----Giroud/RVP----Walcott/Chamberlain/Gervinho


----------------Arteta--------------

-------Carzorla---------Song-----

Gibbs--Vermaelen---Koscielny---Sagna

----------------Sczezny----------------------

Maybe something like that.

GSC wrote:If Sahin comes M'Vila won't

I thought Sahin was a winger and M'Vila is a CM/DM

GSC wrote:If Sahin comes M'Vila won't

I think the M'Vila deal has been long dead. Wenger came out not long ago and said that the deal is off.

Totally agree Smirnoff, you need defenders, it is what lets Arsenal down season after season.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:

GSC wrote:If Sahin comes M'Vila won't

I thought Sahin was a winger and M'Vila is a CM/DM

I think Sahin is a CM/DM as well.

Can I just say that I think Podolski is better playing as a centre forward rather than a winger. I personally don't think he is that great on the wing and is better played through the middle

Sahin plays in the middle.

Wenger also said Podolski wouldn't sign and Fab/Nasri wouldn't go.

Olly wrote:Can I just say that I think Podolski is better playing as a centre forward rather than a winger. I personally don't think he is that great on the wing and is better played through the middle

I don't think he'll play there for Arsenal though, I doubt Arsenal will ever play with two strikers under Wenger any more and if RVP stays then Podolski won't oust him, and if he goes I think Giroud and Podoslki will both be first choice.

GSC wrote:Sahin plays in the middle.

Wenger also said Podolski wouldn't sign and Fab/Nasri wouldn't go.

Yeah, but the deal does seem totally dead. No news of it since early July. Seems to have moved onto Cazorla and Sahin who can both play in a similar position.

Crimey wrote:

Olly wrote:Can I just say that I think Podolski is better playing as a centre forward rather than a winger. I personally don't think he is that great on the wing and is better played through the middle

I don't think he'll play there for Arsenal though, I doubt Arsenal will ever play with two strikers under Wenger any more and if RVP stays then Podolski won't oust him, and if he goes I think Giroud and Podoslki will both be first choice.

Yeah I don't think he will play 2 up top either, just merely stating my feelings on Podolski lol

I think Koscielny and Vermaelen will be a good 1st choice pairing for us (we suffered when Vermaelen was injured for so long last season), and Sagna is a great RB, it's just cover really - though I would like Baines to be signed as LB

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I think Koscielny and Vermaelen will be a good 1st choice pairing for us (we suffered when Vermaelen was injured for so long last season), and Sagna is a great RB, it's just cover really - though I would like Baines to be signed as LB

Will Sagna be a great RB after 2 broken legs in a season? Doubt it, not many come back at the same level from that. Also Koscielny and Vermaelen aren't all that good, can be bullied physically and aerially

Koscielny is improving all the time and I can see him being even better this season, and Vermaelen was great in his 1st season before his injury.

It's a good point about Sagna, and a big worry and shame, which is why I want to us bring in a Full Back so we can ease Sagna back into it.

Kevin De Bruyne has left Chelsea on a season long loan to Werder Bremen. Doubt he'll ever make it at Chelsea, was an unwanted signing I reckon.

Lille president Michel Seydoux has told Newcastle to forget about signing Mathieu Debuchy after rejecting their latest offer.

It emerged on Thursday that the Magpies had tabled an improved offer for the 27-year-old France international after a pursuit lasting months.

However, Lille, who sold midfielder Yohan Cabaye to the Tyneside club for a bargain £4.8million last summer, have refused to budge on their valuation, and Seydoux told L'Equipe: "I have decided that Mathieu Debuchy will remain at LOSC."

Well that's what Newcastle get for mucking about. Same with Man Utd and Lucas. I don't think either deal is dead in the water yet as these comments are used to get more money out of the clubs but it doesn't look promising.

The Marseille owner stated the exact same thing last year with Hatem Ben Arfa stating he was not leaving, however a week later we signed him. I'm not confident now about Debuchy coming, however a deal may still be sorted further down the line for a fee we particularly don't want to pay.

Arsenal table offer for M'Baye Niang apparently

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1129419/arsenal--table-offer-for-caen-forward-m'baye-niang?cc=5739

Crimey wrote:Kevin De Bruyne has left Chelsea on a season long loan to Werder Bremen. Doubt he'll ever make it at Chelsea, was an unwanted signing I reckon.

Based on him being one of the most promising youngsters in the golden generation of Belgians? I'd see it as him getting experience before coming back and making a splash with less pressure on him.

Gregers wrote:

Crimey wrote:Kevin De Bruyne has left Chelsea on a season long loan to Werder Bremen. Doubt he'll ever make it at Chelsea, was an unwanted signing I reckon.

Based on him being one of the most promising youngsters in the golden generation of Belgians? I'd see it as him getting experience before coming back and making a splash with less pressure on him.

Based on the treatment of Lukaku for one, who was also one of the most promising youngsters in that golden generation. There's also now a lot of competition for when he returns, Oscar, Hazard and Mata all being similar ages as him. I think he'll go on loan for the next two years and probably never come back.

I'll say that he'll come back from loan all the better for it, lukaku is a different case as he's still not even 20

Barton looks set to sign on a six month loan deal at Fleetwood. Will probably be signed permanently by a Premier League/Championship club in January.

What odds on him being sent off at least once for Fleetwood?

Oh it would be freeky if he did

See what I did there

I own all copyright on freeky...freaky is fine though Olly.

Toulalan to Newcastle I've read. Now THAT would be a big signing and a great move by both club and player.

The Special Juan wrote:Toulalan to Newcastle I've read. Now THAT would be a big signing and a great move by both club and player.

I've just woke up and read this. I've seen him alot for Malaga and he's a holding midfielder who can possibly play centre back (could mean Douglas deal is dead). Would never remove Tiote from the team and he doesnt have the work rate or engine to replace Gutierrez in that middle three alongside Cabaye. Would rather secure Debuchy deal than go for Toulalan but if the price is good then I'd definitely take him. Slightly worried we are going for too many french players. I mean if Debuchy came then that's Danny Simpson out.

Meh he's more of a big name than anything else, doesn't replace Tiote, would be a good signing but far from essential. I still think Debuchy deal will be done, apparently he's called the Lille president for talks.

Toulalan seems unnecessary.

The problem with so many French players is that it's not out of the question that if one becomes unhappy, they'll all follow him out of the door.

Also none of them qualify as being trained at a british club for 3 years under 21

Toulalan is a great player. However, he appears to have a bad attitude. He was one of those responsible for the exodus at the 2010 World Cup and left Lyon because "his heart wasn't in it".

It's not what we need at all. We need a RB, CB and possibly a winger who can play on the left of a front three.

According to the tomb of truth that is the Daily Mirror, Arsenal are interested in Van Der Wiel from Ajax for £10m, I hope this is true but it could be the Mirror taking two random names out of a hat and deciding to link them in a story

Smirnoffpriest wrote:According to the tomb of truth that is the Daily Mirror, Arsenal are interested in Van Der Wiel from Ajax for £10m, I hope this is true but it could be the Mirror taking two random names out of a hat and deciding to link them in a story

Why do you hope it is true? He is a good attacking FB, but is woeful in defence. I mean so positionally unaware it's laughable

Just like every other Arsenal defender then?

I wouldn't say so, Sagna before his injuries was probably the most complete right back in the Premier League.

I know; I jest of course. Vermaelen gets caught up the pitch a bit too often but the rest of them look reasonably defensively sound.

Looks like Lucas (easy for me to say) is joining Man Utd for £30m odd and RVP too for about £20m. I think both signings could either be brilliant or flop.

If RVP ends up at Utd I'll eat my hat. Arsenal would be fools to sell to anyone in the Premier League

They not really have much choice, the only serious interest outside of the Premier League is Juventus who seemed to have cooled recently. Better to get money for reinvestment now than lose him for free in the summer, when he could still end up at a Premier League club.

Yeah you do make the good point Crimey. But they might just let him rot in the reserves for a year. How much did they buy him for? Was it something like £2 million weren't it?

Anyway I don't really see why Utd need RVP, but then of course why not have him!

A massive waste of money to let him rot, it's not as if Manchester United are a team Arsenal compete with these days. They should get as much money as they can for him, and then reinvest the transfer fee and excess wages back into the team.

I think if Van Persie joins United, Hernandez might leave. It's an odd move by United, they already have a 25 goal striker and Van Persie is nearing 30 so they'll only get maybe 2-3 out of him at the most. They may as well focus on developing Hernandez and Welbeck into world class strikers.

RVP burned his Arsenal bridges too soon. He wasn't happy, then they go out and sign Giroud, Podolski, Cazorla (probably) and Sahin on loan (maybe).

I don't think they'll sign Cazorla and Sahin unless they sell Van Persie, I think that's who they're planning to spend the money on.